


A Nice Rock

by MountainRose



Category: Avengers Assemble (Cartoon), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Dinosaurs, M/M, Savage Land (Marvel), Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-02
Updated: 2019-06-02
Packaged: 2020-04-06 20:05:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19069726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MountainRose/pseuds/MountainRose
Summary: Steve and Tony run away from an angry dinosaur.For Fluffy Panda





	A Nice Rock

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Fluffypanda](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fluffypanda/gifts).



"I thought we'd be worrying about the carnivorous ones, to be honest," Steve said, leaning over the side of the trunk in curiosity.

"Hippopotamuses kill more people than lions, I should have guessed." Tony wound his hand through the back of Steve's harness and pulled him back. Below them, the triceratops bellowed like a truck ploughing through a metal fence.

Steve pulled back into the tree, thankfully, but immediately started craning his head to look at the little raptors in the branches with them. The tree shook with pure territorial rage as the trike took another go at the base.

"We should probably jump," Steve said, disentangling himself from Tony's restraining grip.

"Yeah. On three."

Steve and tony both shuffled as far as their branches would hold them and poised to leap.

"Three," Tony edged out a little further, the branch starting to droop towards the ground.

"Two..." Steve was practically lying down on his branch, feet dangling at the ready.

"One!"

They dropped.

Tony landed heavily, the hydraulic knees complaining bitterly and his boots sinking three inches into the soft earth. Steve grabbed him by the yoke at the back of his neck and they were off, clattering loud enough for every Savage Land critter for miles to hear them.

"Is it...following?" Tony panted, working hard to carry the half functional suit.

Steve looked back and hauled him faster. "Yep! What the hell'd we do anyway?"

Tony shook his head, saving his breath. They made it to their goal, a big rocky outcrop that would hold up better than the tree, and Tony needed to save his breath for the climbing up.

At the top, they collapsed together on the flat-ish boulder and stared, panting, at the sky.

Steve lifted his head briefly, but let it thump back to the rock without saying anything.

"Well? Report, soldier."

Steve waved a hand negligently. "Dunno. Maybe it'll get bored."

They contemplated this in companionable hope for a minute. Overhead, the sky was starting to shade to purple and flights of small raptors circled, their back legs turned into secondary wings. When they stayed still, panting but otherwise unthreatening, the little proto-birds landed back on their rock, little claws skittering.

Tony eyed a particularly brave one as in sniffed at his gauntlet. A jaw full of tiny, needle sharp teeth and lightning quick reflexes said it was probably an insect eater, so Tony relaxed and just lay in the suit for a hot second. The brave one chomped down on his finger but immediately regretted her choices and turned into a feathery sphere of indignation.

Tony huffed a laugh and the whole flock scooted back six inches.

"Okay, so they're a bit adorable."

"I knew you'd come around," Steve said, still flat on his back. "They remind me of you."

"They're six inches tall, Steve."

"And they are absolutely going to try touch all our stuff, possibly steal it, and also, they _are_ red and yellow."

The raptors got their courage back and one stepped gingerly up onto the armor, training one beady eye on its own reflection, iris switching between large and white and thin and yellow as it tried to focus on the Other Dinosaur.

Another raptor climbed up onto his shoulder and he resigned himself to chilling with passengers. One stepped onto the reactor and, finding it warm, immediately sat on it and turned into a puffball, it's long neck vanishing into it's feathers.

Tony resisted the urge to pet it; they'd probably all run away of he moved.

Steve chuckled at something, so Tony lifted the helmet enough to shift position and watch. A raptor was puffed up in rage at its reflection in the shield, it's feathers making it look twice as big and three times as fierce. The shield reflection though, because the surface was convex, was bigger than the little dinosaur no matter what it did. Indignation turned to rage and it struck out at the shield with a little clattering of claws.

Discouraged by this, it slimmed right down. With its feathers slick to its body, it looked more like a noodle with legs than a fierce predator; long neck, long tail, both very mobile. Tony snorted.

"You're all talk, aren't you?"

"I think she's being very brave, Tony; big nasty shield, isn't it beautiful?"

Tony pushed himself up on his elbows and the raptor on his chest plate slid, wrathful, into his lap. It righted itself in a scrabble of claws and perched on his knee instead.

"On a scale of one being finding a box that says 'puppies - free to a good home' and ten being 'Jurassic World: Indomnitus Rex', where are we right now?"

Steve chuckled. "About a seven, probably. The trike hasn't bashed the rock yet, it probably won't try."

Tony creaked over to the left, eyeing the herbivore on question. It appeared to be grazing peacefully, though he didn't trust it for a second. He clicked his radio line open and connected to the jet.

"Jan, you nearby? We are stationary and secure, you can come get us now."

"Just checking, but..." Jan replied, her voice full of sass and an obnoxious grin. "You're not in another tree are you? I'm not coming if you're in a tree."

Tony rolled his eyes hard enough that it hurt, but sat very still when a raptor landed in his helmet. It leaned down over the front and Tony fervently wished the faceplate had survived while it stared him right in the eye.

Steve answered for him. "We're secure, Wasp, you should have no problems."

The raptor swapped eyes and it's tongue flocked out to taste the air. At this range, he could smell the sweet, herbaceous scent on its feathers, and see the tiny indent that made up its ear. It was protected from the world with a thin screening of feathers, like a filter.

They really were amazing animals...

Shame they had to stay here--

It bit him on the nose.

He jerked backwards, swearing loudly. The armor made an abominable racket against their boulder of safety and his attacker startled loose, screaming. It glided away to its brethren, ruffled and unimpressed. Below them, the trike thundered away into the distance, startled by all the noise.

Tony gingerly patted his nose with his gauntleted fingertips and found two tiny scratches on either side, sore but barely bleeding.

Steve, who had been suspiciously silent up until then, snorted with suppressed laughter.

"What the fuck, Steve. Rude."

Steve doubled over, breaking into belly laughs that he, apparently, has no control over.

"Ugh, you're terrible. Jan, hurry up."

"Literally right there, give me a second." She replied. "We can't exactly teleport you know. Though Tony, you really should get on that."

"Last time I tried, I got yelled at for 'ripping a hole in reality' and 'distorting spacetime causality'. Nope. Not going there."

The hum of the jet rose from the clearinf Jan had been waiting in, and Tony watched her swing it around close. Their raptor buddies ran around them to the back of the rock, sheltering in the crevices there.

"Pity. I bet Reed would do it."

 

Tony opened his mouth to protest, but was too slow; Steve jumped in before he could answer.

"Don't say shit like that, Jan, can you imagine the shit that would spew out if someone as competent as Tony operated a portal?"

Rude.

"I try not to, every night as I go to sleep. I retract my statement."

The rear ramp lowered and Jan came in for a beautiful, precision crunch against the stone.

Steve and Tony shooed away their little friends and they found their ankles surrounded by tiny, curious muzzles. Tony couldn't deny they were cute, bit there was something disconcerting about being actively surrounded. He carefully extracted himself, exaggerating his steps so no one would get stepped on.  

Fortunately, none of them had the courage to climb up onto the ramp, so as Jan pulled away, they were all stood at the edge of the rock, watching them leave.

Tony waved, bemused.


End file.
